Last week Monday, I started training with a local rowing club that specializes in preparing athletes for international competition.
Who knows what the future holds, but the present holds lots of exercise and LOTS of eating.
Although I compete in a weight restricted class, training for upwards of six hours a day requires I eat as much food as I can just to maintain my weight and my energy.
I carefully track what I put in my body and what I ask of it so that I fuel properly.
Here's what a day of training looks like:
6AM - wake up
Breakfast: peanut butter banana sandwich with large glass of milk, strawberries
7AM - bike to boathouse, 20 minutes
Snack: 200 calorie energy bar
7:30AM - get boat out, row for around 60 minutes, easy pace
9:00AM - quick break
Snack: chocolate milk, plus a few Belgian chocolates from a teammate
9:15AM - weightlifting, 75 minutes
Snack: almonds and dried blueberries
10:30AM - bike home, 20 minutes
First lunch: cheese roll from a local bakery
Second lunch: oatmeal with spinach, Parmesan cheese and a fried egg, strawberries
Third (!) lunch: leftover chickpea salad in pita, plus sliced cheese, oreos
Snack: mocha from Starbucks, with whipped cream
2:00 - nap time! Plus stretching.
4:00 - second workout, 45 minutes of biking, plus another 50-60 minutes on the rowing machine
Dinner: stir fry with tofu and brown rice, Oreos
Dessert: S'mores cupcake
Despite eating three lunches, and as much dinner as I could stomach, I was still more than 100 calories short of the calories I burned. A lot of my calories came from less than ideal sources--chocolates and cookies.
I'm trying to find a balance between being able to eat enough and eating well, as many of the foods that are good for me are also very filling. I'm working to increase my consumption of whole grains, dairy products and beans, and finding ways to incorporate them into easy snacks.
Expect to see lots of good snack ideas in the future!
Some tricks so far:
- When I menu plan, I make a list of snacks that use the ingredients we have on hand
- We use our slow cooker to make beans and oatmeal, and make extra rice/pasta when we have them for dinner
- Condiments can take something really simple (beans and rice) and put it over the top. One of my favorites: chickpeas, sticky rice, Sriracha sauce, sesame seeds
- When I'm looking for something to eat, open the fridge first; if I absolutely don't want anything in the fridge, then I look in the pantry
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.
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Showing posts with label snack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snack. Show all posts
5.25.2012
11.04.2011
Remix: Homemade "Trail" Mix
Trail mix is an absolutely ridiculous food for normal people to snack on--the whole idea was to make an incredibly nutrient dense, long lasting food to take on hikes where you eat 5000 calories a day.
On the other hand, it's a convenient snack--it's got enough calories that when lunch plans fall through, my secret backpack stash saves the day.
So instead of scrapping the idea altogether, I decided to work a little bit of magic on the original formula.
The updated formula:
1/2c nuts + 1/2 chocolate chips + 1c dried fruit + 2c cereal = 4c trail re-mix
Last time, I mixed pecans, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and honey nut cheerios. I also recommend honey bunches of oats. Use whole grain, fortified cereals for an extra nutrition bump.
WARNING: Cereal does (slash should) go stale, so this stuff doesn't last forever. Keep it in an airtight container, and use it within the week.
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.
Like what you read? Share it on Facebook, Twitter or GoogleBuzz using the buttons below!
On the other hand, it's a convenient snack--it's got enough calories that when lunch plans fall through, my secret backpack stash saves the day.
So instead of scrapping the idea altogether, I decided to work a little bit of magic on the original formula.
The updated formula:
1/2c nuts + 1/2 chocolate chips + 1c dried fruit + 2c cereal = 4c trail re-mix
Last time, I mixed pecans, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and honey nut cheerios. I also recommend honey bunches of oats. Use whole grain, fortified cereals for an extra nutrition bump.
WARNING: Cereal does (slash should) go stale, so this stuff doesn't last forever. Keep it in an airtight container, and use it within the week.
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.
Like what you read? Share it on Facebook, Twitter or GoogleBuzz using the buttons below!
9.01.2011
Post-Workout Bars
To help muscles recover after a hard workout, experts recommend consuming calories within 30 minutes of exercise. In particular, they recommend a ratio of 4g of carbs to 1g of protein.
These bars are a little bit high on the fat, thanks to the coconut, but otherwise provide a good ratio of protein to carbs with no funky ingredients. They're a handy, tasty snack to eat with a glass of water post-sweat session.
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Chocolate-Coconut Energy Bars
makes 16 100-calorie bars
adapted from No Meat Athlete
Ingredients:
1.5c black beans (I made these from scratch, feel free to use canned)
0.75c mashed squishy bananas
.25c honey
0.5 lime (zest and juice)
0.25t salt
1.5 oats or other rolled grains
0.75c cocoa powder
0.25c almond meal (or whole wheat flour)
1c shredded coconut
Directions:
1. Combine beans, bananas, honey, lime zest and juice and salt in a food processor until thoroughly combined.
2. Add the oats, cocoa powder and almond meal. Pulse until combined.
3. Add the coconut and pulse a few more times to combine.
4. Spread the mixture in a greased 9x13 pan. Optionally, sprinkle the top with extra coconut and press it in lightly.
5. Bake for 16-18 minutes at 350°F. Cool, slice and pack in snack baggies.
Approximate nutrition:
1 bar
103 calories, 20 calories from fat
Total fat: 2.5g
Saturated: 1g
Total Carbohydrates: 18g
Dietary fiber: 3.5g
Protein: 3.5g
----- ------ ------ ------ -----
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.
Like what you read? Share it on Facebook, Twitter or GoogleBuzz using the buttons below!
These bars are a little bit high on the fat, thanks to the coconut, but otherwise provide a good ratio of protein to carbs with no funky ingredients. They're a handy, tasty snack to eat with a glass of water post-sweat session.
----- ----- ----- ----- ------
Chocolate-Coconut Energy Bars
makes 16 100-calorie bars
adapted from No Meat Athlete
Ingredients:
1.5c black beans (I made these from scratch, feel free to use canned)
0.75c mashed squishy bananas
.25c honey
0.5 lime (zest and juice)
0.25t salt
1.5 oats or other rolled grains
0.75c cocoa powder
0.25c almond meal (or whole wheat flour)
1c shredded coconut
Directions:
1. Combine beans, bananas, honey, lime zest and juice and salt in a food processor until thoroughly combined.
2. Add the oats, cocoa powder and almond meal. Pulse until combined.
3. Add the coconut and pulse a few more times to combine.
4. Spread the mixture in a greased 9x13 pan. Optionally, sprinkle the top with extra coconut and press it in lightly.
5. Bake for 16-18 minutes at 350°F. Cool, slice and pack in snack baggies.
Approximate nutrition:
1 bar
103 calories, 20 calories from fat
Total fat: 2.5g
Saturated: 1g
Total Carbohydrates: 18g
Dietary fiber: 3.5g
Protein: 3.5g
----- ------ ------ ------ -----
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.
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3.30.2011
Racing in California + Chocolate Mint Energy Bars
This weekend we travelled to California to race Stanford and Wisconsin's lightweight women and the St. Mary's openweight women in a series of dual races at the PAC-10 Invitational at Redwood Shores. We flew out Thursday afternoon and arrived in California late that evening.
Our hotel was right on the race course. You could almost see the finish line from our hotel room.
The next morning, we headed to the grocery store first thing. We still had to weigh-in for the day, but we all stocked up on a lot of fruit and other snacks for later in the day, and for the next few days.
In the afternoon, we practiced twice to get used to the course and our new boat (we borrowed it from Stanford so we didn't have to drive ours all the way out!) and weighed-in.
Our hotel was right on the race course. You could almost see the finish line from our hotel room.
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| The finish line buoys were just out of view. |
In the afternoon, we practiced twice to get used to the course and our new boat (we borrowed it from Stanford so we didn't have to drive ours all the way out!) and weighed-in.
2.14.2011
Valentine's Day Surprise - A Guest Post
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| A Valentine's Day gift from the Mini-Mart. |
If you bring home Russel Stover, she'll know it was last minute. Guaranteed. But you don't have any time, do you? So go to the mini-mart and get her favorite flat candy, preferably Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and large York Peppermint Patties. (Bonus points if it's easy to cut.)
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Peppermint Patties are not inherently romantic. Go figure. So make them romantic. With just a paring knife (or really any reasonably sharp object) you can turn mini-mart candy into a Valentine surprise.
You folks on the West Coast have three hours left. See how happy it will make her?
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| Notice I said peppermint patties and peanut butter cups, not or. |
1.30.2011
Energy Bars Take Two
Last week, I went on a training trip with my team to Austin, Texas.
Training trip = (Sleep + Eat + Row + Eat + Sleep + Eat + Row + Eat) * (Numbers of days in trip)
It was exhausting, but really, really fun. We also made a lot of great strides as a team, both physically and technically. While I'm glad to be back home with D, I'm also really glad we took the trip.
As you can see, I ate a lot during my training. Most mornings before practice, I ate a bar, because they were easy to eat, kept me going through practice, and were light enough that I could do the warmup run without getting cramps.
For a while I've been trying to find bars that give me energy and make me feel good. I tried a lot of different bars, from the FiberOne bars, to Clif bars to Nutrigrain. Finally I settled on Larabars. I really like that they only have a few relatively simple ingredients, they fill me up, and I can exercise right after eating them.
I don't like how expensive they are, how difficult they are to find, or that I didn't make them myself! So I started to look for recipes. There were a lot of recipes for homemade Larabars, but lack of food processor basically took all of those out of the equations.
Before we left on our training trip, I tried to make a batch of energy bars. The recipe I used claimed to not taste as healthy as the input ingredients. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case--they tasted awful. I rarely throw away food, but these were that bad. Granted, I think I burned them a little bit, but there wasn't much goodness to begin with.
Over the course of the trip, I looked for more recipes, and found two that I liked. One of them is called "oatmeal crispies" and is basically oats, flour, butter and sugar baked into bar shape. I may try these in the future, but the other recipe sounded more like what I wanted: oats, nut butter and honey, with a whole bunch of yummy add ins.
So today, D and I ventured through the snow in search of missing ingredients. We came home, mixed these up, and immediately devoured way too many of them. They're incredible!!! The rest I have wrapped up in my fridge ready to take to practice or as an afternoon snack. I'd also like to try making different versions of these.
Below, I have the general version of the recipe, which you can customize to taste however you want. I've also included our version at the very bottom (because it's that delicious) and the version I'd like to try next!
----- ----- -----
Customizable Energy Bars
adapted from (never_home)maker
makes approximately 20 bars
Ingredients:
2.5c quick cooking grains
0.5c powder (e.g. protein/cocoa/milk)
1c coconut flakes (you could probably replace this with more grains)
1.5c nuts (chopped) and seeds
1.5c dried fruit, chocolate chips, etc.
2c fresh fruit, chopped into small pieces
1c crunchy, salty stuff
Training trip = (Sleep + Eat + Row + Eat + Sleep + Eat + Row + Eat) * (Numbers of days in trip)
It was exhausting, but really, really fun. We also made a lot of great strides as a team, both physically and technically. While I'm glad to be back home with D, I'm also really glad we took the trip.
As you can see, I ate a lot during my training. Most mornings before practice, I ate a bar, because they were easy to eat, kept me going through practice, and were light enough that I could do the warmup run without getting cramps.
For a while I've been trying to find bars that give me energy and make me feel good. I tried a lot of different bars, from the FiberOne bars, to Clif bars to Nutrigrain. Finally I settled on Larabars. I really like that they only have a few relatively simple ingredients, they fill me up, and I can exercise right after eating them.
 |
| Wholesome, delicious ingredients. |
Before we left on our training trip, I tried to make a batch of energy bars. The recipe I used claimed to not taste as healthy as the input ingredients. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case--they tasted awful. I rarely throw away food, but these were that bad. Granted, I think I burned them a little bit, but there wasn't much goodness to begin with.
Over the course of the trip, I looked for more recipes, and found two that I liked. One of them is called "oatmeal crispies" and is basically oats, flour, butter and sugar baked into bar shape. I may try these in the future, but the other recipe sounded more like what I wanted: oats, nut butter and honey, with a whole bunch of yummy add ins.
 |
| It was really, really snowy here. |
Below, I have the general version of the recipe, which you can customize to taste however you want. I've also included our version at the very bottom (because it's that delicious) and the version I'd like to try next!
 |
| We both had these for dessert, that's how good they are. |
Customizable Energy Bars
adapted from (never_home)maker
makes approximately 20 bars
Ingredients:
1.5c nut butter
1c honey (or other liquid sweetener, like sugar syrup or agave)
1t vanilla
0.75c water
2.5c quick cooking grains
0.5c powder (e.g. protein/cocoa/milk)
1c coconut flakes (you could probably replace this with more grains)
1.5c nuts (chopped) and seeds
1.5c dried fruit, chocolate chips, etc.
2c fresh fruit, chopped into small pieces
1c crunchy, salty stuff
1.22.2011
(Vegan) Chocolate Grapefruit Marzipan Cupcakes
Wow, what a mouthful.
These were pretty incredible. I put the vegan in parentheses because they don't taste at all vegan... at all. It took a while to get the frosting down, and you'll probably need to taste just to check and make sure it works with your cocoa powder and your grapefruit, but it should be very tart and chocolatey. It will be balanced by the sweetness of the cake and the richness of the marzipan.
My sister sent me pig shaped marzipan, so I thought I would mock the fact that these cupcakes are vegan by putting slices of pig on top of them.. It's a little difficult to tell what they are, but at least I was amused.
----- ----- -----
(Vegan) Chocolate Grapefruit Marzipan Cupcakes
makes 12 cupcakes
Ingredients
0.75c soy milk
0.25c fresh grapefruit juice (this is about half of a juicy grapefruit's worth; if you use the whole half and it's not enough, use equal parts soymilk and vinegar to fill out the quarter cup)
grapefruit zest from as many grapefruits as possible (I used two, three would be great, but one would also be ok)
0.75c sugar (make sure it's vegan!)
0.33c canola oil
1c all-purpose flour
0.33c cocoa powder (I used Ghiradelli--yum! make sure the only ingredient is cocoa powder!)
1t baking soda
0.25t baking powder
0.25t salt
3T cocoa powder
0.25c fresh grapefruit juice (use the other half of the juicy grapefruit!)
4T powdered sugar
12 pieces of marzipan
Directions
1. Mix all the ingredients through salt together in a mixing bowl.
2. Pour ingredients into muffin tins (they should be about 2/3rds of the way full) and bake for 20 minutes at 350°F, or until the tops spring back when pressed gently.
3. While the muffins are baking, mix the 3T of cocoa powder with the remaining grapefruit juice. It should be very runny and very tart. Add powdered sugar 1T at a time until the frosting thickens to a thin buttercream consistency and the tartness is just overcome. (This is really to taste, so taste!) If it's still thin but sweet enough, add more cocoa powder. If it's too thick but still tart, either add more grapefruit juice or add some soymilk.
4. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting them with the glaze/frosting. (If it's liquidy, just dip the tops into the frosting and let them dry; otherwise, spread like regular frosting.)
5. Top each cupcake with a piece of marzipan.
----- ----- -----
These were pretty incredible. I put the vegan in parentheses because they don't taste at all vegan... at all. It took a while to get the frosting down, and you'll probably need to taste just to check and make sure it works with your cocoa powder and your grapefruit, but it should be very tart and chocolatey. It will be balanced by the sweetness of the cake and the richness of the marzipan.
My sister sent me pig shaped marzipan, so I thought I would mock the fact that these cupcakes are vegan by putting slices of pig on top of them.. It's a little difficult to tell what they are, but at least I was amused.
----- ----- -----
(Vegan) Chocolate Grapefruit Marzipan Cupcakes
makes 12 cupcakes
Ingredients
0.75c soy milk
0.25c fresh grapefruit juice (this is about half of a juicy grapefruit's worth; if you use the whole half and it's not enough, use equal parts soymilk and vinegar to fill out the quarter cup)
grapefruit zest from as many grapefruits as possible (I used two, three would be great, but one would also be ok)
0.75c sugar (make sure it's vegan!)
0.33c canola oil
1c all-purpose flour
0.33c cocoa powder (I used Ghiradelli--yum! make sure the only ingredient is cocoa powder!)
1t baking soda
0.25t baking powder
0.25t salt
3T cocoa powder
0.25c fresh grapefruit juice (use the other half of the juicy grapefruit!)
4T powdered sugar
12 pieces of marzipan
Directions
1. Mix all the ingredients through salt together in a mixing bowl.
2. Pour ingredients into muffin tins (they should be about 2/3rds of the way full) and bake for 20 minutes at 350°F, or until the tops spring back when pressed gently.
3. While the muffins are baking, mix the 3T of cocoa powder with the remaining grapefruit juice. It should be very runny and very tart. Add powdered sugar 1T at a time until the frosting thickens to a thin buttercream consistency and the tartness is just overcome. (This is really to taste, so taste!) If it's still thin but sweet enough, add more cocoa powder. If it's too thick but still tart, either add more grapefruit juice or add some soymilk.
4. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting them with the glaze/frosting. (If it's liquidy, just dip the tops into the frosting and let them dry; otherwise, spread like regular frosting.)
5. Top each cupcake with a piece of marzipan.
----- ----- -----
1.16.2011
12.20.2010
a holiday baking extravaganza
I went home for the holidays and suddenly had easy access to an oven and lots of ingredients, as well as several extra mouths. So I went a little crazy, and made two types of muffins and gluten free cookies, all in two days.
We got a giant squash from the grocery store, so I roasted it and substituted it for pumpkin in my pumpkin muffins (with various other modifications). They weren't very good, so I'll refrain from sharing the recipe. Turns out, pumpkin recipes don't get ALL of their flavor from the spices. My dad likes them, though, and snacks on them after he works out.
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| the giant (super cheap) squash |
12.06.2010
Pumpkin Muffins: Take Three
A few weeks ago, I did a comparison of my original pumpkin muffin recipe and a new, low fat version. The low fat version blew the original recipe out of the water.. so much so that even if you were trying to gain weight, I'd recommend putting butter on the low fat version instead of eating the original.
The new recipe still wasn't perfect, though. It wasn't as tender as I'd like them, and still needed a little bit more oomph. In this iteration on the recipe, I've fixed the tenderness. I still need something to make the flavor out of this world amazing, but I think I trip to get more spices will help. (Right now I've only got cinnamon and nutmeg; I think I need some ginger.)
The changes: I replaced the white sugar with brown sugar; I added back in one more whole egg, replacing two egg whites; I used milk instead of carrots; and I decreased the baking time.
What I'd do next time: Use milk and carrots, but increase the amount of flour by .25 cup to compensate; bake at a lower temp for longer; add ginger to the spices.
Just tuning in? Check out the rest of the pumpkin muffin saga, including more recent recipes!
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Pumpkin Muffins
12 muffins
11.28.2010
how to pick a ripe _________
All my life, I was blessed with a grocery store that changed their produce selection based on what was in season, so the fruit in abundance was always the best fruit. This made it easy to figure out what variety to buy, and since most of it was fairly ripe, it was easy to pick a good piece of fruit, too.
When I moved to New Jersey, I realized how lucky I'd been. I also realized how odd people thought my thorough inspections of fruit and vegetables were. But two heads of broccoli can provide very different results, and if I'm going to be paying that much for a nectarine it better be a damn good nectarine.
So how do you pick? Well, first pick by season. You should probably stick with things that are in season in your hemisphere, because long commutes don't bode well for most things.
When I moved to New Jersey, I realized how lucky I'd been. I also realized how odd people thought my thorough inspections of fruit and vegetables were. But two heads of broccoli can provide very different results, and if I'm going to be paying that much for a nectarine it better be a damn good nectarine.
So how do you pick? Well, first pick by season. You should probably stick with things that are in season in your hemisphere, because long commutes don't bode well for most things.
11.21.2010
The salad bar
I love bars: chocolate bars, Lara bars, cookie bars... and I also love the salad bar. I don't know if you've ever eaten in a dining hall, but sometimes there's just nothing good, or nothing good for you. This is when the salad bar comes to the rescue—not to make a salad, but to allow a bit of creativity.
Don't get me wrong, I love salads. In fact, I'd consider myself a salad connoisseur. My favorite salad: green leaf lettuce, with cubes of tomato, cucumber, red bell pepper and avocado, corn straight from the cob, and half slices of carrots, thoroughly tossed in a dressing of equal parts good balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, with just enough dijon mustard to help it emulsify. Doesn't that just have your mouth water?
Unfortunately, most salad bars are not stocked in red bell pepper, avocado, corn from the cob, carrots, olive oil or good vinegar.. let alone a dining hall with a bowl big enough to get a good toss going. So I avoid salads, because why waste any room in your stomach on something that's not completely satisfying and delicious?
No, I like to use the salad bar much more creatively. I've also seen a number of grocery stores that have salad bars in their produce aisle. Here are just a few of the ways you can use the salad bar to make your life easier, or to improve your lunch.
1. Spruce up your pasta dishes. The dining hall serves vegetarian pasta dishes all the time, but I usually find them a bit heavy on the pasta and light on the protein and veggies. I'll usually fill my plate with pasta, and pile on edamame, corn, beans, cubed chicken or tofu, and a little bit of cheese. I then throw the plate into the microwave for a few minutes, and suddenly I have perfect pasta. (Sometimes I also grab a pat of butter and throw it into the mix... makes for some delicious bites).
Don't get me wrong, I love salads. In fact, I'd consider myself a salad connoisseur. My favorite salad: green leaf lettuce, with cubes of tomato, cucumber, red bell pepper and avocado, corn straight from the cob, and half slices of carrots, thoroughly tossed in a dressing of equal parts good balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, with just enough dijon mustard to help it emulsify. Doesn't that just have your mouth water?
Unfortunately, most salad bars are not stocked in red bell pepper, avocado, corn from the cob, carrots, olive oil or good vinegar.. let alone a dining hall with a bowl big enough to get a good toss going. So I avoid salads, because why waste any room in your stomach on something that's not completely satisfying and delicious?
No, I like to use the salad bar much more creatively. I've also seen a number of grocery stores that have salad bars in their produce aisle. Here are just a few of the ways you can use the salad bar to make your life easier, or to improve your lunch.
1. Spruce up your pasta dishes. The dining hall serves vegetarian pasta dishes all the time, but I usually find them a bit heavy on the pasta and light on the protein and veggies. I'll usually fill my plate with pasta, and pile on edamame, corn, beans, cubed chicken or tofu, and a little bit of cheese. I then throw the plate into the microwave for a few minutes, and suddenly I have perfect pasta. (Sometimes I also grab a pat of butter and throw it into the mix... makes for some delicious bites).
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